He means a
Louse grown to its full size, ten times larger and ten times
more abominable than those with which _your Lordships and I
are familiar_. The petitioner asks redress for the injury so
atrocious and so aggravated; and, as far as my voice goes, he
shall not ask it in vain.
"LORD CRAIG.--I am of the opinion last delivered. It appears
to me to be slanderous and calumnious to compare a Diamond
Beetle to the filthy and mischievous animal libelled. By an
Egyptian Louse I understand one which has been formed on the
head of a native Egyptian--a race of men who, after
degenerating for many centuries, have sunk at last into the
abyss of depravity, in consequence of having been subjugated
for a time by the French. I do not find that Turgot, or
Condorcet, or the rest of the economists, ever reckoned the
combing of the head a species of productive labour; and I
conclude, therefore, that wherever French principles have
been propagated, _Lice_ grow to an immoderate size,
especially in a warm climate like that of Egypt. I shall only
add, that we ought to be sensible of the blessings we enjoy
under a free and happy Constitution, where Lice and men live
under the restraint of equal laws the only equality that can
exist in a well-regulated state.
"LORD POLKEMMET.
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